Do they hear humanity’s fears?
Will that day come?
When all the big ears
Will listen as one
How many rivers of tears must we cry?
Before all our deepest wells run dry
How many innocent children must fall?
Before all the big ears hear their helpless calls
That wounded haunting drawl
The ghostly scrapping sound of homeless feet
Mournfully shuffling along their bombarded streets
Ivor Steven (c) March 2022
Please Mr Shootin’ Putin
Do not roll your tanks of destruction
Over the innocent Mr & Mrs Millipede
Millipedes were the earliest animals to breathe air
And make the move from water to land
They date back 428 million years
Now people of the world cannot hold back their tears
Did you know Mr Shootin’ Putin
That Millipedes are fairly timid critters
Docile decomposers that live in the leaf litter
Of forests all over the world!
They aren’t flashy or fast
And they follow the motto
“Slow and steady wins the race”
Millipedes are peaceful
They don’t bite
They can’t sting
And they don’t have pincers to fight back
Please Mr Shootin’ Putin
Do not roll your tanks of destruction
Over the innocence of creation
Ivor Steven (c) March 2022
Do you feel the weight?
Of radio-active clouds
Hanging over stolen ground
Do you hear the birds singing?
Gone!
Is that peaceful sound
Do you hear warning sirens howl?
Resonating like old war songs
When bombs are guided into sacred ground
Fires from hell destroying beds and towns
Gone!
As ashen children wander over burnt ground
Home is a communal air-raid shelter
Where families fearfully huddle together underground
Above!
The torn loyalties of alien soldiers
Tread lightly and warily upon broken ground
Ivor Steven (c) March 2022
I am not here to wait
For the world to finally rotate
Time for me is getting late
I am here to watch the grand parade
Eventually pass by my front gate
One day soon
After the next purple moon
Illuminates our children’s fearful tears
I will see those grandiose leaders
Calmly sit down together
On the peaceful banks
Of Lake Connewarre*
Connewarre; an Aboriginal word meaning ‘black swan’
Ivor Steven (c) February 2022
Featured Image Above: by Derrick Knight, who kindly allows me to reproduce his photos here on my poetry website …
A World Of Puppets (a Tanka)
Are we the puppets?
Punch and Judy’s without strings
Who’s contolling things?
As Putin’s a dummy too
Ask the children in Russia
Ivor Steven (c) February 2022
Can you hear the ghosts of Sunday?
“Sunday, Bloody Sunday”
From your distant country’s
On the edge of peace and tranquility
Within your rural trees of serenity
Beyond invisible borders of rivalry
Between oblivious inequality
From the old schoolyard bully
Overseeing an avoidable atrocity
Again another “Sunday, Bloody Sunday”
How can they forget history so quickly?
I have a few thank you’s to accompay the writing of my piece “The Final Sunset”.
Firstly my opening stanza was written as a response to Susi’s inspiring post today, thank you Susi. https://iwriteher.com/2022/02/24/peace-please/ Thank you to David Redpath, for reminding me of Bob Dylan’s poignant protest song, “Masters Of War” , which I have attached below. https://highwaybloggery.com/2022/02/24/masters-of-war/ , and thank you to Derrick Knight for allowing me to use his stunning “Sunset” photo as my featured photo here on my site, https://derrickjknight.com/2022/02/24/the-assistant-photographer-saves-the-day/
The Final Sunset
Wrong versus right
War versus peace
Greed versus commonsense
Destruction versus harmony
Killing versus living
War is not the people’s choice
Is this to be our final sunset
Will she justifiably refuse
To open her golden eye
Upon another shattering dawn
Of our manufactured doom
Ivor Steven (c) February 2022
Apple blossom and white lilies are flowers that symbolize peace, but we need more than nature’s beautiful flowers to set the white doves free …
White Flowers (a Haiku)
May we all see peace
Bloom beyond the seasonal
Lilies and blossom
Ivor Steven (c) January 2022
On Weekly Prompts, the Wednesday challenge is: FOR THE BIRDS. Please go over and visit their fabulous site by clicking >> HERE. The below Haiku, is my response to the prompt.
Silently She Cries
In the sky somewhere
There’s the old peace dove crying
In silence, she’ll die
Ivor Steven (c) June 2020.
Out of the blue ocean, into the black sea
We still appear wet behind our ears
And still burning bridges made out of ancient trees
Repeating the same old questions, while wearing our masks of tears
What about looking at nature’s dragonflies and bees?
How do they live in harmony without the fears?
We are the carriers of this corrupt disease
Ignoring our racist problems for too many years
Ivor Steven (c) June 2020
Below, the lyrics to “Nina Cried Power” by Hozier, please read and sing along…..
“Nina Cried Power”
(feat. Mavis Staples)
It’s not the song, it is the singing
It’s the heaven of a human spirit ringing
It is the bringing of the line
It is the bearing of the rhyme
It’s not the waking, it’s the rising
[Hozier & Mavis Staples:]
And I could cry power (Power), power (Power)
Power, Lord
Nina cried power
Billie cried power
Mavis cried power
And I could cry (Power) power, (Power) power
Hey, power
Curtis cried power
Patti cried power
Nina cried power
[Hozier:]
It’s not the wall, but what’s behind it
Oh, the fear of fellow man, it’s mere assignment
And everything that we’re denied
By keeping the divide
It’s not the waking, it’s the rising
[Hozier & Mavis Staples:]
And I could cry power (Power), power (Power)
Oh, power
Nina cried power
Lennon cried power
James Brown cried power
And I could cry (Power) power, (Power) power
Hey, power
B.B. cried power
Joni cried power
Nina cried power
[Mavis Staples:]
And I could cry power
Power has been cried by those stronger than me
Straight into the face that tells you
To rattle your chains if you love being free
[Hozier & Mavis Staples:]
But I could cry power (Power)
‘Cause power is my love when my love reaches to me
James Brown cried power
Seeger cried power
Marvin cried power
Yeah ah, power
James cried power
Lennon cried power
Patti cried power
Billie, power
Dylan, power
Woody, power
Nina cried power
Ivor.Plumber/Poet 